My Heart, My Love Forever
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Dawn is at The Bronze, sitting alone while Buffy dances with her friends. Then Chow shows up and asks her to dance, and she accepts.


**Title: **My Heart, My Love... Forever

**Prompt(s): **love, passion, romance, dance, dancing, clubbing

**Summary: **Dawn is at The Bronze, sitting alone while Buffy dances with her friends. Then Chow shows up and asks her to dance, and she accepts.

**Characters: **Dawn Summers, Chow, Buffy Summers

**Pairing: **Chow/Dawn Summers

**Spoilers: **Takes place after The Body in Season 5. However, Dawn doesn't bring Joyce back like she did in Forever, and instead goes through the five stages of the grieving process with a little help from Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang.

**Disclaimer:** Genius Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. John Rogers (also a genius) owns Jackie Chan Adventures.

Dawn Summers, sixteen, sighed. Her sister Buffy had suggested a girls' night out for just the both of them. So Dawn had suggested The Bronze, and Buffy instantly agreed. After all, when Buffy was sixteen, she herself had often gone to The Bronze to hang out or get a drink such as hot chocolate. So, off to The Bronze they went.

Now, however, Buffy had spotted her friends, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, and after telling Dawn to stay there on the couch she was currently occupying, had then headed off to go talk to them. It was starting to seem like Buffy had been there with Willow and Xander for hours rather than minutes.

Dawn looked around. It seemed as though all the good-looking guys – who made neat dance partners – were already taken. The way things were going right then, she wasn't surprised if nobody wanted to ask her to dance, or everybody simply just ignored her if she tried to talk to them or strike up a conversation with them.

"Well, now, what's a pretty-looking young lady like you doing sitting here all alone, beautiful?"

Dawn turned upon hearing the voice, and her eyes widened a bit when she saw its owner – a good-looking guy with black, spiky hair, black clothes and dark black eyes, which were, at the moment covered by a pair of orange sunglasses he was currently wearing.

Chow looked at Dawn, liking what he was seeing. She was wearing a pink turtleneck covered by a blue jeans jacket, black Levis and white tennis shoes. A necklace with a shamrock adorned her neck, completing the ensemble. There was no doubt about it. He believed she had taste – and classy, elegant taste at that.

He extended his hand. "I'm Chow," he said, smiling.

Dawn, grinning also, shook his hand. "I'm Dawn Summers. I'm Buffy's little sister."

"Ah," Chow said, nodding. "I see." He then turned and looked at the dance floor, where Buffy was dancing with her friends. "And I take it," he added, "that she's the vampire Slayer, too."

He saw the shocked look on Dawn's face and raised an eyebrow. "Well, it wasn't **that** hard for me to figure out. After all, I can sense things without even trying, and I somehow knew that this town, Sunnydale, has what I've heard to be called the ‛Hellmouth' – or as the Spanish settlers refer to it, ‛Boca del Infierno'."

He then grinned, showing his white teeth. "I've been brushing up on stuff I look up on the Internet. It's amazing the things one can find on there. After all, the Internet is, in my opinion, a great thing to have at one's fingertips."

"Ah," said Dawn, nodding in understanding. "I see."

Chow nodded also, but in agreement, and then bowed gracefully. Dawn smiled and then did a curtsy.

"Shall we dance, _ma chere_?" he asked, and offered his arm to her.

Dawn blushed, and then slipped her arm through his. "Of course, Chow, _mon chere_."

Chow grinned, as he knew that Dawn was very good at not only translating foreign languages into English, but also speaking them as well.

With that, he then lead her upstairs to the currently empty concourse on the second floor, where, as he put it, they could watch the others on the dance floor without them knowing about it. Dawn felt that his idea was a good one.

Then, "Mayberry" by Rascal Flatts began to play, and Dawn and Chow looked at each other. It was as though the lyrics were appropriate for the dance.

Which, in fact, it was.

_Sometimes it feels like this world is spinning faster  
>Than it did in the old days<br>So naturally we have more natural disasters  
>From the strain of a fast pace<em>

_Sunday was the day of rest_  
><em>Now it's one more day for progress<em>  
><em>And we can't slow down<em>  
><em>‛Cause more is best<em>  
><em>It's all an endless process<em>

It was then that Chow placed one hand around her waist and held her hand with the other. Dawn, for her part, placed her other hand on his shoulder. Then, they began to dance a waltz – while imagining themselves in a ballroom rather than in a nightclub in a town located atop a Boca del Infierno.

_Well I miss Mayberry_  
><em>Sitting on the porch drinking ice cold Cherry – Coke<em>  
><em>Where everything is black &amp; white<em>  
><em>Picking on a Six String<em>  
><em>Where people pass by and you call them by their first name<em>  
><em>Watching the clouds roll by<em>  
><em>bye bye<em>

_Sometimes I can hear this old earth shouting_  
><em>Through the trees as the wind blows<em>  
><em>That's when I climb up here on this mountain<em>  
><em>To look through God's window<em>

_Now I can't fly_  
><em>But I've got two feet<em>

_To get me high up here_  
><em>Above the noise and city streets<em>  
><em>My worries disappear<em>

"Hey, Buffster, come here," said Xander.

"Yeah, Xand? What is it?" asked Buffy as she walked over and stood next to him. She noticed the look in Xander's eyes.

"Look for yourself, Buff," replied Xander as he looked up at the concourse, seeing Dawn dancing with a guy that had black hair and was wearing black clothes and a pair of orange sunglasses.

Buffy followed his gaze, and was instantly surprised at what she was seeing.

There was her little sister dancing what seemed to be the waltz – and on the concourse, no doubt. But instead of getting angry, Buffy's green eyes crinkled with good humor as she fought to keep from laughing.

"Buffy," said Willow, noticing that Buffy wasn't at all mad about the situation, "why are you looking like you're about to laugh out loud?"

Buffy then pointed out Dawn and Chow dancing with each other on the concourse.

"Oh, I see," said Willow as she followed Buffy's pointing finger.

"Is that... Chow from the now-defunct organization that was once known as the Dark Hand?" asked Xander. "I'd recognize him anywhere."

"Really?" asked Willow and Buffy as Dawn and Chow then stopped dancing and headed back down the stairs and over to them.

Xander nodded. "Definitely. Plus, Chow has that whole James Dean-slash-bad boy thing going for him." He shrugged. "I don't know why."

" ‛James Dean-slash-bad boy thing', huh?" said Chow as Xander, Willow and Buffy looked over at him. He turned to Dawn and grinned. "I like it. Personally, in my view, it's about time someone thought I reminded them of James Dean myself."

Dawn blushed a bit, and then said, "So how have things been going on patrol?"

"Yeah," added Chow. "After all, Buffy, somebody's got to guard the Hellmouth, and do it well."

"Pretty much the same," said Buffy after she thought for a few moments. Chow noticed that she looked sad and her emerald orbs were full of grief. He knew that look too well – Buffy's mother, Joyce, had recently passed away.

"Hey," he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "your Mom would be proud. After all, she was a great mother to you, and did a great job raising you."

Buffy raised her eyes to meet his dark brown ones, and gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks," she replied. "That means a lot to me. And you're right – Mom would be proud, and not just of me, but Dawn as well."

Dawn smiled as well – a tearful one. "Yeah, she would."

Chow noticed this and put a comforting arm around her shoulders, and Dawn leaned into his touch, grateful for his closeness. In her view, a guy like Chow that had a little bit of the gentleman of the olden times in him was kind of hard to find.


End file.
